Jun 11, 2019 • 05:00 pm ET

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Incorporated First Quarter 2019 Earnings Results Conference Call. Today's call is being hosted by Brian Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer. I'd like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded and will be available for replay beginning later today.

Now I'd like to turn the conference over to Arvind Bhatia, Senior Director of Investor Relations for opening remarks.

Arvind Bhatia

Thank you, James, and thank you all for joining us. On the call today are Brian Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer; and Scott Bowman, Chief Financial Officer. After comments from Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Bowman, we will be happy to take your questions. This call is being recorded on behalf of Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Incorporated and is copyrighted.

Before we begin our discussion of the Company's results, I'd like to call your attention to the fact that in our remarks and our responses to your questions, certain items may be discussed which are not based entirely on historical facts. Any such items should be considered forward-looking statements and relating to future events within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. Information on the various risk factors and uncertainties has been published in our filings with the SEC, which are available on our website at www.daveandbusters.com, under the Investor Relations section.

In addition, our remarks today will include references to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA and store operating income before depreciation and amortization, which are financial measures that are not defined under generally accepted accounting principles. Investors should review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP results contained in our earnings announcement released this afternoon, which is also available on our website.

Now, I will turn the call over to Brian.

Brian A. Jenkins

Well, thank you, Arvind. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Before I begin, I'd like to welcome Scott Bowman, who recently joined us as our Chief Financial Officer. Scott has a long proven track record of success working with brands like Home Depot and most recently Hibbett Sports. His strategic vision and financial discipline make him a strong addition to our leadership team, and I am extremely excited to have him on board. I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank Joe DeProspero for serving as our Interim CFO and congratulate him on his new role as our SVP of Supply Chain and Business Development.

With respect to Q1, we grew overall revenue by more than 9%, EBITDA by over 3%, and EPS by nearly 9%, reaching new high watermarks for these metrics. That said, our results were mixed, while new store performance remains strong, comparable store sales were below expectation as this year's Easter calendar shift proved challenging, F&B underperformed and competitive headwinds remained stiff. As I mentioned on the last call, Q1 tends to be a volatile quarter for us

Arvind BhatiaSenior Director of Investor Relations

Brian A. JenkinsChief Executive Officer

Scott J. BowmanSenior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Andrew BarishAnalyst

Joshua LongAnalyst

Unidentified Participant

Jeff FarmerAnalyst

Jake BartlettAnalyst

Brian VaccaroAnalyst

Jon TowerAnalyst

Stephen AndersonAnalyst

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